by This week will prove to be a watershed week for Obama’s signature legislation designed to revamp US healthcare, the Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court
is due to rule on the constitutionality of either the act as a whole, or some of its component parts. The deadline for their decision is June 28, this coming Thursday, although the decsion could come sooner. And no matter what the outcome may be many of the groups opposing the law are preparing gatherings to either celebrate its demise, or mourn its survival and plan the next attack.
One group that organized many of the demonstrations against Obama’s health care reform, Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks, has already scheduled a bash at their Washington, DC headquarters for June 26. Representatives at FreedomWorks explained how a party can already be planned without knowing the outcome yet, and even before the decision might be handed down.
“If the Supreme Court comes down on the side of liberty, then we’ll celebrate! If not, we promise to have ample food and libations to help you forget your worries,” the group wrote in an invitation to supporters. “And if there’s no decision yet? Well … who really needs an excuse to get together anyway?”
Speaker of the House John Boehner, Republican opponent to Obamacare, is taking a more subdued approach to the possible victory celebration on his side of the aisle.
“If the court strikes down all or part of the president’s health care law, there will be no spiking of the ball,” he wrote in a memo Thursday. “We will not celebrate at a time when millions of our fellow Americans remain out of work, the national debt has exceeded the size of our nation’s economy, health costs continue to rise, and small businesses are struggling to hire.”
The Tea Party Patriots, another group against Obamacare, feel no need to restrain their glee if the law is struck down partially or fully. A rally is being planned for all those “Tea Party Minute Men” who live within a two hour drive of the Supreme Court building, to rush over there immediately after the decision is given.
“Have your camera, bullhorn, flags, or any other things you might bring to the rally ready to go so that when the time comes you are ready to roll!” their Facebook page and website states.
The Tea Party is also scheduling a gathering within two days of the Supreme Court’s decision. Labeling the get-together a “Tele Town Hall” the most distinguished and outspoken of health care reform’s congressional opponents will be on hand, including Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-Iowa), Steve King (R-Iowa) and Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky.)
Tea Party organizers say that the Attorney General of Virginia Ken Cuccinelli, a hopeful for the governorship, will also be on hand.
Health care reform supporters are also planning their reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling. Avram Goldstein is a spokesman for Health Care for America Now. He said the group’s supporters are getting ready to attend 43 events throughout 19 states, but this plan is in flux and the number of gatherings will most certainly change by the time the decision is made.
“We want to be visible and heard in reaction to this decision, whatever it is, quickly,” Goldstein said.
Goldstein added that the events are mostly going to be press conferences and rallies, including health care consumers and small business owners in such venues as state capitols, city halls, hospitals and parks, from California to New York and North Carolina.